The US Army General in charge of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where prisoners have been abused, tortured and killed, admits that Israeli personnel were involved in the "interrogations".

The high level of secrecy that is apparent from this report, and the immediate denial from the highest level in the Israeli regime, leads some observers to suspect that U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski is referring to agents of Mossad, the Israeli secret service.

SOURCE: Haaretz (IL), "Israel denies agents operating in Iraq ", 4 Ju 04.http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/446834.html
The U.S. general formerly in charge of the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq told BBC radio yesterday that she has evidence that Israelis were involved in interrogating Iraqi detainees.
...
Karpinski, who was suspended in May over allegations of prisoner abuse, said she met a man claiming to be an Israeli during a visit to a Baghdad intelligence center with a senior coalition general.
"I saw an individual there that I hadn't had the opportunity to meet before, and I asked him what did he do there, was he an interpreter - he was clearly from the Middle East," Karpinski told BBC radio in an interview broadcast yesterday.
"He said, `Well I do some of the interrogation here and, of course, I speak Arabic but I'm not an Arab. I'm from Israel.' I was really kind of surprised by that... He didn't elaborate any more than to say he was working with them and there were people from lots of different places that were involved in the operation," Karpinski added.
...

Four Mossad agents have been caught by the authorities in New Zealand after they stole the identity of a man in a wheelchair. Identity-theft allows Mossad agents to travel freely. When the Israeli regime does something anywhere in the world, somebody else always gets the blame.

SOURCE: New Zealand Herald, "The spies who stole my name", 3 Jul 04.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3576312
An Auckland family have told how their tetraplegic son's identity was stolen by an Israeli secret agent who moved in just down the road.
Zev Barkan, who has fled New Zealand and escaped the justice faced yesterday by his two co-accused spies, lived within 300m of the man in whose name he applied for a passport to assume a New Zealand identity.
"Barkan lived in the street next door to where [the victim] was living," said his father, speaking exclusively to the Weekend Herald.
...
Barkan appears to have come to New Zealand with the purpose of illegally obtaining a New Zealand passport using an assumed identity.
He first came here, according to the police summary of facts, in November 2003, travelling on a United States passport which identified him as an Israeli.
...
"On seeing plainclothes police, Kelman hid his cellphone in bushes then walked swiftly from his observation area," a prosecutor told the court. Soon after, Kelman's phone began to ring. A policeman retrieved it and answered it. It was the taxi driver saying he had arrived.
A former Mossad spy living in New Zealand has said he suspects the agency is behind the scam.
He said New Zealand passports were prized by spy agencies, particularly Israel's, because they didn't arouse the suspicion of border officials, particularly in the Arab world which regarded the New Zealand as sympathetic to Palestinians.
If the men were Mossad, he said, it was unlikely to be the first time the spy agency had tried to get New Zealand passports.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has admitted that, since every other nation in the region is under pressure to disarm, Israel should be too.

SOURCE: BBC News, "UN asks Israel to go nuclear-free", 27 Jun 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3844145.stm
The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, says Israel should start discussions on ridding the Middle East of nuclear weapons.
He said such dialogue would help reduce frustration in the region about "what is seen to be a widespread imbalance".
Mr ElBaradei is scheduled to travel to Israel next month to discuss making the Middle East a nuclear-free zone.
He said everyone knew that Israel had a nuclear capability - even if Israel has always refused to admit it.
"We need... to rid the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction," he told Reuters news agency on a visit to Russia.
...
Its Arab neighbours have frequently accused the international community of double standards for requiring them to be free of nuclear weapons while doing little, in their eyes, about Israel.
Mr ElBaradei said it was "not sustainable in any region or even globally to have some [people] rely on nuclear weapons and others being told they should not have nuclear weapons".

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Research confirms pro-Israel mass media bias
22 June 2004

UK television news coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is confusing viewers and favouring the Israeli position, a new report says.
The study, by the Media Group at Scotland's Glasgow University, found Israelis were quoted more than twice as much as Palestinians in reports
...
Many viewers were also not even sure who was "occupying" whose territory.
...
They found that, in addition to "a preponderance of official Israeli perspectives", US politicians who support Israel were "very strongly featured" in news programmes, appearing more than politicians from any other country and twice as much as those from Britain.
...
Researchers also found a strong emphasis on Israeli casualties on the news despite the number of Palestinian deaths being considerably greater.
And the differences in language used by journalists for both sides were also noted.
"Words such as 'atrocity', 'brutal murder', 'mass murder', 'savage cold blooded killing', 'lynching' and 'slaughter' were used about Israeli deaths but not Palestinian," the report said.
"The word 'terrorist' was used to describe Palestinians by journalists but when an Israeli group was reported as trying to bomb a Palestinian school, they were referred to as 'extremists' or 'vigilantes'."
...
But Glasgow University's Greg Philo that told the same programme that the facts speak for themselves.
"You can't have a history lesson each time you do the news, but the problem is 80% of the population rely on television news for their information about the world," he said.
...

A wildlife watchdog in Israel has accused soldiers of using protected animals and birds for target practice, an Israeli army magazine has claimed.
...
The soldiers' magazine, Bamahane, said that nature authorities have received complaints over troops' conduct.
...
An official from the nature authority alleged that the practice is widespread among Israeli troops, thousands of whom carry out military duties throughout the country and Palestinian territories.
...

The Israeli regime has written a new plan for the Middle East, and the US government has unreservedly approved it.

Unfortunately, the plan is a direct material breach of International Law and all applicable UN Resolutions. Furthermore, the US/Israeli axis made their historic decision without involving any of the people, Jewish or Muslim, who will be affected.

BBC News, "UK condemns Hamas leader killing", 18 Apr 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3636179.stm
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has condemned the killing of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi as "unlawful" and "unjustified".
...
The foreign secretary said: "The British government has made it repeatedly clear that so-called targeted assassinations of this kind are unlawful, unjustified and counter-productive."
Mr Rantissi's killing is likely to increase criticism of Prime Minister Tony Blair, who confirmed his backing for President George W Bush's support for Israeli plans to unilaterally withdraw from parts of the occupied territories.
The summit last Friday followed Mr Bush's approval for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposal to leave the Gaza Strip, but retain settlements built in the West Bank in defiance of international law
...

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Israel stops UN delivering food to refugee camps
1 April 2004

The Israeli military are refusing to allow UN deliveries of food to the thousands of starving refugees fleeing Israel's holocaust. The refugees, mostly women and children, survived their homes being bulldozed to clear the ground for illegal "Jewish settlements", but are homeless and desperate.

The Israeli regime claims that the reason for cutting off food to the refugees is that there are terrorists hiding in the UN's food. Was this intended as an April fool's joke?

The Israeli regime is not afraid of kicking people when they are down, and nobody is spared in their holocaust against the Palestinians.

BBC News, "UN 'stopping food aid to Gaza'", 1 Apr 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3582617.stm
Food deliveries to the Gaza Strip will be halted this week because of Israeli restrictions, the United Nations said.
Peter Hansen, the UN chief responsible for Palestinian refugees, said his agency was no longer allowed to take empty food containers out of Gaza.
Their loss added "intolerable costs to a programme already stung by underfunding", Mr Hansen complained.
...

Israel assassinated another of their enemies this week. As worshippers were leaving the Mosque in Gaza, An F16 aircraft supplied by America fired a explosives into the crowd.

The bombs killed 67-year-old Hamas spiritual leader, Ahmed Yassin, and destroyed his wheelchair. Seven other people were also blown to pieces, including women and children, and fifteen other innocent civillians received grevous injuries.

It is only two years since Israel assassinated the Hamas military leader, Salah Shehada, in a bombing attack that also blew-up 16 innocent civillians in their homes nearby, including 11 children.

Israel could have arrested Shehada and Yassin if they had evidence against them, and indeed both have spent time in Israeli prisons. The preferred strategy is assassination, even though everybody knows that it only stirs up more trouble.

With the Israeli economy in crisis, the destabilization caused by Israel's state-sponsored terrorism provides a convenient excuse to extract more money and weapons from the USA.

SOURCES:

BBC News, "Huge crowds mourn Hamas leader", 22 March 2004.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3557601.stm
The 67-year-old was leaving a mosque in Gaza's Sabra district in his wheelchair with an entourage when they were attacked by Israeli helicopter gunships.
Two bodyguards and one of Sheikh Yassin's sons were reported to be among the SEVEN PEOPLE KILLED. At least 15 people were wounded.

BBC News, "Yassin killing ignites fury", 22 Mar 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3556589.stm
The killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin has ignited Palestinian fury across the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
...
Clashes broke out between the protesting Palestinians and Israeli troops, leaving at least four Palestinians dead, including an 11-year-old boy and a journalist.

BBC News, "World anger after Hamas killing", 23 Mar 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3559469.stm
There has been widespread international condemnation of the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the militant group Hamas.
The paraplegic cleric, who Israel says masterminded suicide bombings, was targeted in Gaza. His death sparked calls for revenge by Hamas.
Israeli Defence Minister Shaoul Mofaz said that the policy of "liquidating terrorists" would continue.

BBC News, "World media condemn killing", 23 Mar 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3558477.stm
Media commentators around the world are convinced Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin will only lead to more violence in the troubled Middle East.

BBC News, "Press frets on Israel killing policy", 24 Mar 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3564359.stm
Israel's threat to eliminate more prominent Palestinian figures after the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin hits the headlines in Israel and the Palestinian territories on Wednesday.
The no-holds barred approach concerns most Israeli papers, while commentators on both sides worry about the radicalisation of the conflict.

BBC News, "EU criticises killing of Yassin", 26 Mar 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3572253.stm
European Union leaders have condemned Israel's assassination of Palestinian militant cleric Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as a violation of international law.
Ending a two-day summit in Brussels, the leaders expressed "deep concern" over the killing, which they said had worsened the Middle East conflict.

BBC News, "Press outrage over Yassin murder", 23 Mar 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3558495.stm
Newspapers throughout the Middle East are up in arms over Israel's killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
In the Arab world, commentators strongly condemn it, with some calling for revenge and others gloomily predicting it will spark an ever-deepening spiral of violence in the region.

BBC News, "US sends mixed messages on Yassin", 23 Mar 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3559587.stm
The attack in Gaza provoked a level of confusion in Washington rarely seen in the Bush administration.
Nobody in the administration has condemned it.
...
The problem for the US administration is that it has two contradictory policies.

BBC News, "US veto on Yassin draws criticism", 26 Mar 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3570651.stm
There have been angry Arab reactions to the US veto of a UN Security Council resolution condemning the killing of the spiritual leader of Hamas.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin - a veteran Palestinian militant accused by Israel of ordering suicide bombings - died in an Israeli missile strike on Monday.
The Council's failure was criticised by Palestinian and Algerian delegates as well as Russia and Indonesia.
The US opposed the draft because it did not name Hamas as a terrorist group.
The document condemned "the most recent extrajudicial execution committed by Israel".
It also condemned "all attacks against any civilians as well as all acts of violence and destruction".
Eleven members approved the resolution - two more than the nine required to pass it - but the US envoy used the veto available only to the five permanent members of the council.

BBC News, "US sinks UN resolution on Yassin", 26 Mar 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3568349.stm
...
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin died on Monday in an Israeli missile attack.
A majority of council members voted for the resolution, but the US employed the veto reserved for permanent members.

BBC News, "Show of strength before Gaza pullout", 22 Mar 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3556593.stm
...
The overall lesson to be drawn from these events is that there is really no prospect for peace, that the roadmap has been rolled up and that another 20 years of war is the most likely scenario.

DEJA-VU:

The Independent (UK), "Peres 'would have voted against assassination'", 23 March 3004.http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=504098
...
In the most lethal, an F-16 dropped a one-ton, laser-guided Zarit bomb on a house in a teeming Gaza suburb in July, 2002. It killed Salah Shehada, the commander of Hamas's military wing, but also took the lives of 16 of his neighbours, including 11 children. In another attack that exacted a heavy toll in "collateral damage", Israeli helicopter gunships killed Sa'id Arabid, a Hamas fighter, and seven others in Gaza a year ago.

The Guardian (UK), "12 dead in attack on Hamas", 23 July 02.http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,761746,00.html
Seven children killed as Israelis assassinate military chief
Israeli F-16 warplanes bombed the house of the military commander of Hamas in Gaza City last night, burying him and at least 11 other Palestinians, including seven children, beneath the rubble of a four-storey block of flats, and wounding 120 others.
Last night's assassination of Sheikh Salah Shehadeh is the most serious blow to the military wing of Hamas since the start of the Palestinian uprising nearly two years ago. Shehadeh was among the founders of Hamas's Izzedine al-Qassem Brigades, and spent a decade in Israeli jails.

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ISRAEL IGNORES INTERNATIONAL COURT OVER THE WALL
23 February 2004

The Israeli regime will ignore the judgement of the International Court of Justice, when the court rules that the "Berlin wall" which Israel is building through Palestine is illegal, as it will later today.

Israel's government says the International Court has "no jurisdiction" in this case, and its powerful allies all agree, but hearing will proceed anyway as an empty token gesture. The Israeli regime knows that The Hague is not as easy to control as the UN Security Council where the US holds the power of veto. Nevertheless, the court is under immense "political pressure" from the US and the EU not to defy Israel.

Nobody is under great pressure from the Palestinian people, who do not even have the power to save their own houses from being demolished or their citizens being shot in their thousands.

SOURCES

BBC News, "Mid-East PR blitz heads for Hague", 23 February 2004.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3499757.stm
Israeli and Palestinian groups geared up for a public relations battle well before the hearings began at The Hague on the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank.
Dutch authorities have already made space in the city for the wreckage of the no.19 bus, destroyed in a deadly Jerusalem suicide attack last month.
The bombed vehicle is Israel's centre-piece in the looming battle for hearts and minds with pro-Palestinian groups in The Hague, where the International Court of Justice is on Monday to hold hearings on the legality of a barrier Israel has constructed to cut itself off from the Palestinian territories.
The Israeli government is refusing to make oral arguments to the court, saying it has no jurisdiction in the case.
...
The Israeli Government has despatched a number of officials to brief journalists covering the hearings, while the Foreign Ministry has for its part already briefed the Israeli protesters who are to join demonstrations in The Hague.
The rallies themselves are being overseen by a local Dutch organisation, The Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), in liaison with a number of Jewish and Israeli groups.
...
Despite the immense pro-Israeli effort being put into activities in The Hague - and the potent symbolism they have at their disposal - pro-Palestinian campaigners say they are not perturbed.
"We may not be able to ship over a house destroyed by an Apache helicopter in the same way they can bring a bus but we know that logic is on our side when it comes to the wall. It is illegal," says Victor Decurealugo of the Stop The Wall campaign, which is overseeing the pro-Palestinian protests and workshops.
"Our biggest worry is about political pressure on the court - inevitably from the US and Israel, but also from the EU."
Stop The Wall, which has been working with other groups opposed to the wall, hopes to see demonstrators from across Europe - as well as a number of Palestinians - gather at the weekend for rallies.
"But we have had difficulties getting the Palestinians here. Partly it's a question of resources - we just don't have what the Israelis have," says Mr Decurealugo.
"But there have also been issues over leaving the country and entering Europe which neither the Israeli authorities nor the Dutch have been very helpful about."
...

BBC News, "Palestinians argue barrier case", 23 February 2004.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3512255.stm
Palestinian representatives have been making their World Court case against Israel's contentious West Bank barrier.
Nasser al-Kidwa rejected the Israeli position that the barrier - part fence and part wall - was for security.
"It is about entrenching the occupation and the de facto annexation of large areas of Palestinian land," he said.
...
Mr Kidwa earlier told the BBC that Israel could have avoided accusations of stealing land if it had confined the barrier to its own territory.
Israel argues that the court has no jurisdiction to rule on what it considers a political - not legal - dispute with the Palestinians.
Several dozen countries, including the US and many European Union nations, have backed that view.
...
Hundreds of Israelis have been killed in suicide bombings since the Palestinian uprising began more than three years ago.
More than 2,700 Palestinians have been killed during the same period.
...

The powerful international Jewish lobby had the ear of the European government this week to discuss plans to make Europe more pro-Jewish. They warned the top EU officials that to criticise the Israeli government is "anti-Semitic".

Influential pro-Jewish groups, including the Israeli government, the World Jewish Congress, the European Jewish Congress, the Congress of European Rabbis, the "Community Security Trust", etc, had their own special "high-level" meeting to speak directly to European leaders and policy-makers about Jewish interests.

...
The seminar was organised by the European Commission, together with the European Jewish Congress and the Congress of European Rabbis.
It brought together political and religious leaders from Europe and beyond.
"Anti-Semitism has returned. The monster is here with us once again," European Jewish Congress president Cobi Benatoff told the conference.
"What is of most concern to us, however, is the indifference of our fellow European citizens."
The seminar was briefly postponed after Mr Benatoff and the head of the World Jewish Congress, Edgar Bronfman, accused the EU and Mr Prodi himself of fostering anti-Semitism.
The charge infuriated Mr Prodi, who was recently honoured by European rabbis for his part in promoting what he calls "a Europe of diversity".
...
Mr Prodi's proposals echo calls by Jewish leaders for national governments to set up special taskforces to monitor and combat anti-Semitism - as France and Italy have recently done - and co-ordinate action internationally.
The complexities of the problem were apparent throughout the day, with constant allusions to Israel and the Middle East crisis, the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Jane Little reports.
Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Nathan Sharansky said that while criticism of Israel was legitimate, it was often a vehicle for anti-Semitism.
...
SOURCE: BBC News, "EU vows to tackle anti-Semitism", 19 February 2004.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3502019.stm

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Red Cross condemns Israel's Berlin wall
18 February 2004

The International Committee of the Red Cross has condemned Israel's building of a barrier in the West Bank as "contrary" to international law.
The aid agency said the barrier, whose proposed route cuts into Palestinian areas, went "far beyond what is permissible for an occupying power".
...
But Palestinians dispute the barrier's legality and say the wall is little more than a land grab.
...
SOURCE: BBC News, "Red Cross slams Israel barrier", 18 Feb 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3498795.stm

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is ending its emergency food programme in the West Bank, saying the economic collapse there is the direct result of Israeli military closures and that Israel must live up to its responsibility as the occupying power for the economic needs of the Palestinians.
...
[This is a serious breach of the Geneva Conventions with immediate and disastrous adverse effects on the ordinary people of Palestine.]
SOURCE: The Independent (UK), "Blame Israel, says Red Cross as it ends food aid for West Bank", 16 November 03.http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=464142

GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says that Israel's controversial West Bank barrier violates international humanitarian law because it cuts across Palestinian land.
It said on Wednesday the barrier -- a network of metal fences and concrete walls -- bars thousands of Palestinians stranded on its western side from adequate access to basic services like water, health care and education.
"The ICRC's opinion is that the West Bank Barrier, in as far as its route deviates from the 'Green Line' into occupied territory, is contrary to IHL (international humanitarian law)," a statement from the body's Geneva headquarters said.
The statement also called on the Israeli government -- which says the measure aims at keeping out suicide bombers who have killed hundreds of its citizens -- "not to plan, construct or maintain this Barrier within occupied (Palestinian) territory."
In a prompt reaction, Israel's ambassador in Geneva Yaakov Levy said the ICRC's statement "could compromise the neutral stance" essential for the body -- which monitors global pacts on humanitarian issues in war and post-war situations.
"There is a danger that the position presented by the ICRC will be turned into a political tool against Israel's measures of self-defence...," Levy declared.
Israel is facing hearings on the barrier at the International Court of Justice in the Hague next week after a request by the United Nations General Assembly for a non-binding opinion on whether it is legally obliged to tear it down.
HUMANE TREATMENT OBLIGATIONS
The ICRC said problems created by the barrier "clearly demonstrate that it runs counter to Israel's obligation ....to ensure the humane treatment and well-being of the civilian population living under its occupation."
It added: "The measures taken by the Israeli authorities linked to the construction of the Barrier in occupied territory go far beyond what is permissible for an occupying power under international humanitarian law."
The ICRC said it recognised the right of Israel -- which says the barrier is meant to stop suicide bombers and has already thwarted dozens of attacks -- to take measures to defend the security of its own population.
And ICRC official Balthasar Staehelin said that if the barrier were moved back to the Green Line -- the boundary before Israel seized the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East War -- "that would solve many of the problems as far as we are concerned."
Staehelin said the statement followed careful study by ICRC representatives in the area for 18 months of the effects of the barrier -- which cuts a wide swathe round Israeli Settlements on the West Bank -- on ordinary Palestinians.
It also followed one month of discussion with the Israeli authorities on the organisation's concerns. "We hope this statement will give greater impetus to the dialogue, which we want to continue."
Palestinian communities were effectively cut off from the society to which they belong and the barrier also gave rise "to widespread appropriation of Palestinian property and extensive damage to or destruction of buildings and farmland."
SOURCE: Reuters (Geneva), "Red Cross condemns Israel barrier", by Robert Evans, 18 Feb 04.http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=460598§ion=news

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Jewish lobby call new Jesus movie "anti-Semitic"
18 January 2004

A prominent Jewish leader has called on the Pope to tell Catholics the controversial Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ is not truthful.
Abraham Foxman of the Jewish pressure group The Anti-Defamation League met with Vatican officials to protest.
...
There was no comment from the Vatican as to the Pope's response to Mr Foxman.
Jewish group's have expressed concern that The Passion of the Christ could ignite anti-Semitism, saying the crucifixion in the film is blamed entirely on Jews.
The Second Vatican Council of 1962-65 saw a reconciliation of the relationship between Catholics and Jews, as Christians were taught not to blame all Jews for the crucifixion.
Mr Foxman said The Passion of the Christ, directed and produced by Gibson, portrayed Jews as bloodthirsty and vengeful, although the Hollywood star has denied it is anti-Semitic.
...
He called upon the Vatican to instruct bishops to issue statements that the film is not a pure portrayal of gospel accounts.
...
SOURCE: BBC News, "Pope asked to rebuke Gibson film", 18 Feb 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3498867.stm

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees is warning that it may not be able to cope with the number of people made homeless by Israeli army demolitions.
...
According to UN figures, almost 600 people have been made homeless in the Rafah refugee camp since 16 January.

Since October 2000, more than 14,000 people in the Gaza Strip have lost their homes - almost 10,000 of them in Rafah.

Mr Hansen is now warning that the UN's resources are being stretched almost to breaking point.

"We can simply not keep up with this," he said. "We will need some $30m to make sure that all of the people who have lost their homes will be able to have a replacement home."
The frustration felt in Gaza's poorest and most dangerous areas boiled over.
Arriving for a planned ceremony to hand over new houses, Mr Hansen was jostled by an angry crowd who argued that the buildings should have been put up where the old ones were demolished.
That is not possible, says the UN, arguing that the replacement homes would themselves just be destroyed shortly afterwards.
SOURCE: BBC News, "UN warns over Israeli demolitions", by James Rodgers, 25 January 2005http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3428517.stm

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Israel threatens to boycott international genocide conference
20 January 2004

Ignoring accusations of censorship, Israel has warned it will boycott an international genocide conference in Stockholm next week unless Sweden disowns an exhibit at a related art show.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom says Israeli participation will depend on the Swedish Government's willingness to "disassociate itself" from the artwork, which depicts a smiling Palestinian suicide bomber.
"Then and only then will I consider positively what needs to be done," he said.
"We are talking to the Swedish authorities in order to find a solution, and I would like to believe that we will find a solution in the near future in order to participate in this conference."
SOURCE: ABC News (Aus), "Israel may boycott genocide meeting over artwork", 20 Jan 04.http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1028349.htm

JERUSALEM : Israel will boycott next week's international genocide conference in Stockholm unless Sweden disowns an exhibit at a related art show that includes a photograph of a Palestinian suicide bomber, Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom said.
Israeli participation will depend on the Swedish government's willingness to "disassociate itself from the exhibit," Shalom told a Jerusalem news conference.
"Then and only then will I consider positively what needs to be done," he said.
"We are talking to the Swedish authorities in order to find a solution. And I would like to believe that we will find a solution in the near future in order to participate in this conference."
Israeli ambassador Zvi Mazel sparked a diplomatic row by vandalising the artwork when it went on show at Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities Friday as part of a special exhibition running alongside next week's conference.
SOURCE: Channel News Asia, "Israel to boycott genocide meet unless Sweden disowns art work", 20 January 2004.http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/67037/1/.html

Israel's ambassador to Sweden has been questioned about attacking an artwork showing a Palestinian suicide bomber.
The envoy, Zvi Mazel, is unrepentant, calling the work a "call to genocide" but the Swedish Government says his actions are "unacceptable".
Meanwhile the artistic director of the museum, which is keeping the work on display, has reportedly been attacked.
Artist Dror Feiler, who is also said to have been threatened, said the envoy's actions made reconciliation harder.
He told the BBC World Service that his work was "absolutely not" a glorification of suicide bombers as had been claimed and criticised Mr Mazel for a "stupid act".
"[My wife] came running to tell me... the ambassador was destroying our installation," the Israeli-born artist told the World Today programme.
...
Mr Feiler said he tried to persuade the ambassador to read the accompanying text which explained how innocent people had been killed in the attack by the bomber whose photograph he had used, but had been rebuffed.
...
In a separate development, Mr Mazel confirmed on Monday that Israel would be vacating the building that houses its embassy in Stockholm after 50 years, Israeli radio reported.
...
SOURCE: BBC News, "Bomber art attack furore spreads", 19 Jan 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3408511.stm

Israel has called on the Swedish Government to dismantle an art exhibit featuring a Palestinian suicide bomber, which it says is an incitement to kill.
On Friday the Israeli ambassador to Stockholm was ejected from a museum for vandalising the exhibit.
...
But its Israeli-born creator rejected the charge, saying the work had a message of openness and conciliation.
Sweden's foreign ministry has summoned Mr Mazel to give an explanation for his actions on Monday.
He was expelled from Stockholm's Museum of Antiquities on Friday after he threw a spotlight at the exhibit.
Called Snow White And The Madness Of Truth, the installation features a photo of Hanadi Jaradat, a 29-year-old trainee lawyer who blew up herself and 19 Israelis in a Haifa restaurant in October.
...
The installation was commissioned ahead of a conference on genocide to be held later in January.
...
Dror Feiler, an expatriate Israeli artist who collaborated on the installation, said Mr Mazel had tried to "stop free speech and free artistic expression".
"I'm absolutely opposed to suicide bombers," he added.
The director of the museum, Kristian Berg, said the installation would remain in place.
"You can have your own view of what this piece of art is all about, but it is never, never allowed to use violence and it is never allowed to try to silence the artist," he said.
SOURCE: BBC News, "'Bomber' artwork enrages Israel", 17 Jan 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3406745.stm

The media in Israel have been informed of the US government's intention to attack Syria next.

The Jerusalem Post reported yesterday: "US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the civilian echelons of the Pentagon have proposed that President George Bush instigate military actions against Syria". The same Jewish newspaper, which has good connections with the USA, reports: "several Pentagon officials' belief that Syria should be the next to go after Iraq."

The first phase of the war on Syria will be a series of small strikes over a long period, designed to disable Syria's defences without provoking too much public opposition at home in the US. The allies used the same strategy in neighbouring Iraq. The excuses for the war on Syria will also be the same - WMD and terrorism.

Syria is an oil producing economy. In 2003 the Syrian oil industry yielded approximately 400,000 to 450,000 barrels per day, representing an increase of around 100,000 b/d compared with the previous year. The US government predicts that in 10 years or so Syria, like most other oil exporters, will no longer have enough oil to export. The Syrian government disputes this in the hope that new reserves may be found.

In November last year, the premier scientific journal, Nature, published a report called "Hydrocarbons and the evolution of human culture" (Vol 426, pp 318-322) with a sober warning:

"About 100 years ago, the major source of energy shifted ... to fossil hydrocarbons. ... Technology has generally led to a greater use of hydrocarbon fuels ... making civilization vulnerable to decreases in supply."

What will happen to Western civilization ten years from now, when the primary fuel source is no longer available? Think of all the things in your life that depend on petrol or gas; electricity, lorries, cars, shops... Now imagine them gone.

SOURCE Jerusalem Post, "Report: US considering armed intervention in Syria", 14 Jan 04.http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1074053868626
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the civilian echelons of the Pentagon have proposed that President George Bush instigate military actions against Syria due to its continued support for Hizbullah and enabling terrorists to enter Iraq from its border.
Reports received by the Night Rider news group in Washington, operations will not include large-scale military intervention, in spite of several Pentagon officials' belief that Syria should be the next to go after Iraq. The Defense Department is considering punitive aerial attacks and Special Forces incursions.
The initiative is presently being rejected by Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Richard Meyers and by Secretary of State Colin Powell and the State Department.

SOURCE: Jerusalem Post, "Report: Rumsfeld considers striking Hizbullah to provoke Syria", 22 Jan 04.http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1074745158639
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is considering provoking a military confrontation with Syria by attacking Hizbullah bases near the Syrian border in Lebanon, according to the authoritative London-based Jane's Intelligence Digest.
In an article to be published on Friday, the journal said multi-faceted US attacks, which would be conducted within the framework of the global war on terrorism, are likely to focus on Hizbullah bases in the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon.
It noted that the deployment of US special forces in the Bekaa Valley, where most of Syria's occupation forces in Lebanon are based, would be highly inflammatory and would "almost certainly involve a confrontation with Syrian troops."
Such a conflict might well prove to be the objective of the US, said the journal, which described Washington's strategic benefits from a confrontation with Syria. These include:
* Pressuring Damascus into ending its support for anti-Israel Palestinian groups;
* Persuading Syria to abandon its weapons of mass destruction and to withdraw its troops from Lebanon;
* Stimulating a situation where Syrian leader Bashir Assad can be ousted;
...

SOURCE: BBC News, "Powell pushes for Syria action", 3 May 03.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2995483.stm
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has called on Syria and Lebanon to end all support for groups Washington classifies as terrorist organisations.
...
He said Syria had already closed the offices of some anti-Israel groups in Damascus but he expected Syria "to do more".
...

SOURCE: BBC News, "Blair urges Syria to abandon WMD", 6 Jan 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3372441.stm
Tony Blair has repeated his calls for Syria to abandon any development of weapons of mass destruction.
...
Syria's president is reported to have said he would not comply until Israel abandons its nuclear weapons programme.
...

SOURCE: BBC News, "Profile: The Golan Heights", 14 January 3004.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/3393813.stm
The Golan Heights, a rocky plateau in south-western Syria, has a political and strategic significance which belies its size.
Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the closing stages of the 1967 Six-Day War. Most of the Syrian Arab inhabitants fled the area during the conflict.
An armistice line was established and the region came under Israeli military control. Almost immediately Israel began to settle the Golan.
...

SOURCE: BBC News, "Israel announces Golan expansion", 31 Dec 03.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3358797.stm
Israel has unveiled a $60m plan to build homes for thousands of new settlers on the occupied Golan Heights.
...
Syria has reacted angrily, saying sovereignty should be resolved by international law, not military power.
...

Haggai Matar never expected that his sentence would be so harsh. But as the teenage refusenik reports to a military prison today, he says he will draw comfort from the judges' description of him as a threat to the survival of Israel.
Mr Matar is one of five young men starting one-year sentences at No 6 military prison near Haifa.
They all refused to serve because they object to the occupation.
"I take it as a compliment that they are so afraid of our ability to persuade others that they called us dangerous and have to lock us up," said Mr Matar, 19.
Until now, objectors have generally been allowed to walk free, or have received administrative sentences of a few weeks in jail, to save the military public embarrassment.
But Mr Matar and his col leagues went public with their protest, and encouraged others to join them, at a time when the Israeli army is confronting a wave of objections.
Nearly 1,000 school leavers and reservists have signed refusal letters, and members of elite forces such as fighter pilots and commandos say they will no longer attack Palestinian targets because the large numbers of civilian casualties amounted to war crimes.
...
"During the verdict and sentencing they said they were punishing us much more severely because we went public, because we affect other people."
The three judges said they were guilty of a "very severe crime which constitutes a manifest and concrete danger to our existence and our survival".
One judge, Colonel Avi Levi, stopped just short of accusing them of treason.
...
"Further, by so doing they undermine the international legitimacy of the state's actions and help hostile nations by providing them with new arguments."
...
"Every day people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip suffer abuse, humiliation, poverty and hunger - things that happen because of the occupation," he said.
"You begin to understand that there is a reason for the bombings, the terror attacks. You ask how people can get to the situation where people kill themselves and kill others, and you realise they are desperate."
...
But the five are confident that their trial will backfire by encouraging, not deterring, the growing ranks of refuseniks.
So far, more than 400 have signed the "high school letter" refusing to serve. A further 550 who served and are now reservists have signed a similar document objecting to policing the occupation.
In recent weeks, 28 pilots and 13 members of an elite commando unit have joined the refuseniks.
The five each spent 14 months or more in detention before their court martial, so know what to expect behind bars. After that, they are not so sure.
"It's very unclear where the army is going with this," Mr Matar said. "It is possible that, when the year ends, they will send us back to be inducted into the army - and we will refuse, and it will all start again."
SOURCE: The Guardian (UK), "It's because they fear us, say teenage refuseniks jailed by Israeli army", by Chris McGreal, 7 Jan 04.http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1117573,00.html

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Isaeli army shoots unarmed Israeli civilian
6 January 2004

The Israeli army says troops who wounded an unarmed Israeli protesting against the West Bank security barrier did not break rules about opening fire.
Human rights groups complain that few soldiers are charged in cases where civilians are killed or injured.
...
The case caused great controversy because an Israeli was wounded.
...
SOURCE: BBC News, "Army defends shooting of Israeli", 6 Jan 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3373205.stm

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is ending its emergency food programme in the West Bank, saying the economic collapse there is the direct result of Israeli military closures and that Israel must live up to its responsibility as the occupying power for the economic needs of the Palestinians.
The move comes as the Israeli media reported that François Bellon, the Red Cross representative, told senior Israeli generalsthat the Palestinian Authority was on the verge of an "explosion" that could lead to "the worst ever humanitarian crisis" in the occupied territories.
Israel is concerned that other international organisations may follow the Red Cross, which would leave Israel to face the cost of providing the services they currently provide - a cost that some estimates put as high as $1.1bn (£650m) a year."
"As a result of economic collapse, a fifth of Palestinian children are malnourished, according to a report last year by an American government aid agency. International aid organisations have stepped in to provide assistance. In the wake of the invasion and reoccupation of West Bank cities last April, the Red Cross launched an emergency food and essentials programme for Palestinians.
The organisation has spent $46m over the past year and a half providing food and such necessities as cooking oil and matches to around 300,000 of the most needy Palestinians in the West Bank. But now the ICRC says that must stop, and that Israel must live up to its responsibility as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention to meet the economic needs of the civilian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Vincent Bernard, an ICRC spokesman, said: "This was humanitarian relief designed to assist in a humanitarian emergency, not to address the longer-term problems caused by curfews, closures and the collapse of the economy that has occurred. It is not our responsibility to take care of the economic needs of the Palestinians. We have repeatedly said it is the responsibility of the occupying power."
SOURCE: The Independent (UK), "Blame Israel, says Red Cross as it ends food aid for West Bank", 16 Nov 03.http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=464142

"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is ending its emergency food programme in the West Bank, saying the economic collapse there is the direct result of Israeli military closures and that Israel must live up to its responsibility as the occupying power for the economic needs of the Palestinians.
The move comes as the Israeli media reported that François Bellon, the Red Cross representative, told senior Israeli generals that the Palestinian Authority was on the verge of an "explosion" that could lead to "the worst ever humanitarian crisis" in the occupied territories.
Israel is concerned that other international organisations may follow the Red Cross, which would leave Israel to face the cost of providing the services they currently provide - a cost that some estimates put as high as $1.1bn (£650m) a year."
"As a result of economic collapse, a fifth of Palestinian children are malnourished, according to a report last year by an American government aid agency. International aid organisations have stepped in to provide assistance. In the wake of the invasion and reoccupation of West Bank cities last April, the Red Cross launched an emergency food and essentials programme for Palestinians.
The organisation has spent $46m over the past year and a half providing food and such necessities as cooking oil and matches to around 300,000 of the most needy Palestinians in the West Bank. But now the ICRC says that must stop, and that Israel must live up to its responsibility as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention to meet the economic needs of the civilian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Vincent Bernard, an ICRC spokesman, said: "This was humanitarian relief designed to assist in a humanitarian emergency, not to address the longer-term problems caused by curfews, closures and the collapse of the economy that has occurred. It is not our responsibility to take care of the economic needs of the Palestinians. We have repeatedly said it is the responsibility of the occupying power."
...
SOURCE: The Independent (UK), "Blame Israel, says Red Cross as it ends food aid for West Bank", 16 Nov 03.http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=464142

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Israeli threat prevents peace and disarmament in Middle East
6 January 2004

Syria will only renounce its weapons of mass destruction programmes in tandem with similar dismantling by Israel, its president said in an interview.
The call came as Mr Assad began a historic visit to Turkey - the first ever by a Syrian head of state.
Bashar al-Assad said it was "natural" for his country to wish to defend itself without coordinated disarmament by the whole Middle East region.
"Unless this applies to all countries, we are wasting our time," he said.
...
SOURCE: BBC News, "Syria calls for Israel to disarm", 6 Jan 04.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3371735.stm